Here's To Life

**The day began with rain and thunder. It made for an unusual start, especially when I had to get me and the kids ready for school and a trip. **I stopped by a grocery store ATM this morning in order to save myself a little time. I withdrew $40. It decided to be stingey and clamped down on the last bill as it was coming out. It tore and it took going to two different banks in order to get a whole one. It was only missing about 20% of the bill and it had both serial numbers, but the headache in replacing it was minor compared to the headache that getting a retailer to take it would have been. **It would be better to be at home on a rainy day like this. **Today marks the last of the Easter dinner leftovers for lunch. **It's nice to be able to partner with my old team while working on my current job. **I've been thoroughly enjoying the Falcon and the Winter Solider show on Disney plus. It made me forget that it's been almost two years since a legitimate Marvel movie. **I'm

**Yesterday, I had the odd experience of discovering that an actor was dead while simultaneously watching him perform. I've been rewatching Chernobyl and was watching/listening to a scene that Paul Ritter was in when I pulled up a website that had his death as a headline. **I'm starting to feel like my past is slowly being erased into nothing. Not even the hospital I was born in exists anymore. **It's already been one of those mornings. Stuck behind a bus. Forgot to bring a mask. Sleepy. **The renewal for my lease was in the mail today. I'll be glad to sign it. This has been a great place for me and the kids to call home. **I skipped my usual lunchtime walk today in favor of running home and getting some packages off the porch. **I'm ending the work day in a meeting with some people I haven’t seen in a long time.  **Some six hours after the last blurb was written, I find myself in bed reading and finally realized that I had not published this. Yikes. Maybe it's

 As I begin, I'm grilling a steak that, by rights, I shouldn't have. I picked it out of the case at the store, intrigued by the fact that one steak that looked this good was my usual cut. It wasn't. Too thick. Great marbling and it's just beautiful. The meat clerk looked at it, laughed and said, "Oh yeah. That's not the right one!". Yet, even though I said to go ahead and charge the right price, he said it was in the wrong place and it was their error. I'm definitely eager for dinner now. I hope your Easter weekend was pleasant, as mine definitely was. I woke up too early on Sunday, went for a run and then fit in a workout. After church, the kids came home with me and we had all afternoon together. I made a semi-traditional Easter dinner for the three of us and we sat down outside and ate on the table that I built. They were very happy with it. Neither of them wanted to leave this morning. My daughter held on especially tight this morning as I was dro

Yesterday I had a ‘Random Thoughts’ post all teed up. I started early, put some blurbs in over the course of the day and then promptly forgot to publish it. You didn’t miss much. Seriously, the only thing truly noteworthy was both of my kids vocalizing that they did not want to leave my house and wanted to stay here. They will be here tomorrow for Easter. I have spent the morning and afternoon today making sure that everything is ready for the holiday. The yards are mowed, the house looks and smells great and I've spent a little time this afternoon baking the carrot cake that they requested, in addition to making the deviled eggs. It’s just going to be the three of us. If it had been just me, I wouldn’t have bothered. I did that on Christmas and it was a waste of effort. For them? No waste of effort. We’re going to have a great day together. Despite them waking up at their mother’s apartment and the Easter Bunny visiting there, I made sure that he was going to show up here for

**Yesterday I got the first dose of the covid shot. It's an interesting juxtaposition to realize that exactly a year ago yesterday was when I was sent home to begin working from home. There was a period of time where I felt "off" at home, but that may have been psychosomatic. The arm is a bit sore and I'm tired. The "tired" was mostly related to staying up late.  **Sometimes I just get tired of things changing. **The kids will be with me on Easter. I wasn't expecting that and had made plans, so I had to rearrange my schedule. I also had to buy things for Easter dinner, as I was expecting to be out of town that day. Still, would much rather be with the kids. **It's slightly overcast today leading to storms this evening and, what is hopefully, the last cold spell of the season. I should be grateful that it's not going to be freezing, as my garden has made fantastic progress. **I still have spots of paint on my phone from a project on Saturday. 

As I begin, I must caution myself of my own, self-imposed, ‘No negative content’ rule. It’s not all bad, but to say that I've been in the best mood today would be a blatant lie. And I don’t lie. I’m sure there are a myriad of reasons, but above all, I miss my kids. I wish they were here. There are others, but I’d give up everything to have them here now. It’s strange looking outside. There’s a strong haze outside, likely from a controlled burn in the area. It colors the sunlight a golden orange. I’d like to think that would translate into a great sunset, but those are never a promise and the best ones are a surprise. I’ve had my dinner, which was my usual Monday steak. Now, there’s little to do and little desire to do anything. I have a load of laundry going, but other than that, I can actually relax some. Well. That’s about it. Maybe I should put some garden pictures in someday. The garden has the potential to be the best I’ve ever done.